Albion Online Refining Return Rate Explained (2026)
What the resource return rate is, the exact percentages with and without Focus, where to refine each resource, and how to tell if refining is actually profitable.
Refining looks simple — turn raw resources into refined materials and sell them — but whether it makes silver comes down to one number most new players misunderstand: the resource return rate. Here is exactly how it works in 2026.
What is the return rate?
Every time you refine, a percentage of the materials you put in is returned to you. A higher return rate means each refined unit costs less in real materials, because some of your inputs come back to be used again.
The return rate depends on two things: whether you are refining in a bonus city, and whether you are using Focus.
The numbers that matter
With the standard +40% city refining bonus applied:
- Without Focus: about 36.7% of materials are returned.
- With Focus: about 53.9% returned.
Those percentages transform the maths. At 53.9% return, more than half of your inputs come back — so Focused refining in the right city is almost always worth it if you have the specialisation.
Where to refine each resource
Each material has a city that grants the +40% refining bonus:
- Metal bars — Thetford
- Planks — Fort Sterling
- Cloth — Lymhurst
- Leather — Martlock
- Stone blocks — Bridgewatch
Refining outside the bonus city throws away return rate, so unless transport or price differences are extreme, refine where the bonus is.
Is refining actually profitable?
Profit per refined unit is roughly:
- the sell price of the refined material,
- minus the cost of the raw resource and (for tier 3 and up) the lower-tier refined material you feed in,
- adjusted for the return rate,
- minus the station usage fee and sales tax.
Because raw and refined prices drift independently, an item that is profitable in the morning can be underwater by evening. The refining calculator ranks the most profitable resources to refine right now using live prices, and the full grid lets you set your own return rate, Focus, taxes and cities across every tier and enchantment.
Buy orders vs sell orders
You can sell refined materials instantly into a buy order, or place a sell order and wait. Sell orders usually net more but risk being undercut; buy orders are faster but lower. Factor this into your margin — a "profitable" refine at sell-order prices can vanish if you have to dump into buy orders.
Next steps
Check today's best resources on the refining calculator, and look up the live price and history of any material — like planks or metal bars — on its item page before committing a big batch.